Million of venture dollars have gone into smart grid startups in a frenzy of interest over turning energy conservation into a business.
So far, smart meters have been the big money maker, with giant utilities anointing the winners. It may finally be time for smaller players to get their due.
AlertMe expects to add a thermostat monitor early this year to its product family
One smaller player facing a critical 2010 is the British based AlertMe out of Cambridge. The company has a heritage in the British home security market, but will strengthen its smart energy product line in the first half of the year by roll out a key addition. The company also anticipates its first U.S. pilot in the space.
AlertMe creates an in-home energy-monitoring network with a series of devices connected to a wireless hub. The devices report the energy use of office equipment and other appliances, and let homeowners create home energy profiles.
Then, so the reasoning goes, they can adjust their habits to save energy and money.
So far it is not clear how interested consumers will be in micromanaging their energy use. But David Bercovich, vice president of business development, says the company is finding success with an early wave of English customers who have purchased products off the AlertMe Web site.
They automatically set home policies to turn off peripherals when they leave home, he says. The system also helps detect appliances that are malfunctioning and burning too much energy. In early 2010, the company will bring out a thermostat link that will let people adjust heat and cooling settings for when they are away.
“A lot of (home energy conservation) is am information problem,” Bercovich says. AlertMe, which has raised venture capital funding from the likes of Vantage Point and Index Ventures, hopes to solve it.
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